Last week, it sent out a release seeking to counter CNBC's recent coverage that featured builders' anxiety tying imminent price increases to tariffs and elevated duties -- as well as broader concerns about the nation's ability to produce enough domestically-sourced lumber should imports cease or slow down.

The NAHB, which has been resolutely against any tariffs or duties that might increase the price of building materials, takes the view that "Price increases to lumber can cause a huge disruption for home builders. And lack of certainty adds complexity to the home-building process."

It elaborates on its stance:

"A new single-family home on average requires $174,155 worth of building materials for construction, with imports accounting for $12,713 of the total building material cost. In the short run, building materials prices will become volatile as they are typically driven by price expectations, which have moved higher by recently announced tariffs. In the long run, tariffs will reduce the availability of building materials, resulting in higher prices."

Now, with countervailing and antidumping duties anticipated to more than double this fall, the NAHB and U.S. Lumber Coalition are both ramping up advocacy efforts in direct opposition.

While the NAHB regards Canadian lumber imports as an essential cog in the U.S. homebuilding machine, the U.S. Lumber Coalition believes the nation needs none of it.

To this end, the coalition has now published an open letter to President Trump, pressing its agenda to bolster U.S. production while enacting "continuous and unrelenting enforcement against Canada's unfair trade."

In the letter, which is signed by a slew of groups ranging from lumber companies, loggers, PR agencies to forestry giants like Weyerhaeuser, the coalition pushes for policies designed to benefit the interests of domestic wood-based industries and their workers.

As the letter puts it:

"Since 2016, U.S. mills have added nine billion board feet of production capacity and produced 30 billion additional board feet of softwood lumber. This increase alone is enough to build two million single family homes and has more than offset the decline in unfairly traded Canadian lumber imports."

Adding:

"Continued strong enforcement of the U.S. trade laws to level the playing field against unfairly traded Canadian lumber imports is exactly what must happen to keep expanding U.S. lumber manufacturing and availability to build more American homes with American lumber."